1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to financial transaction cards, including but not limited to credit cards, debit cards, gift cards, stored value cards, and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
By way of background, financial transaction cards typically display a variety of human-readable symbolic information, such as a card number, a cardholder name, a card issuer name, an expiration date, a trademark and/or logo, etc., on one or both of the card surfaces. This symbolic information is usually applied to the card substrate via screen printing or other conventional techniques, with some of the information also being embossed on the upper card surface. In order to read such printed information, sufficient ambient light is required to illuminate the card and reflect the information to the eye of the reader. If the lighting is insufficient, the information cannot be discerned, which makes it difficult if not impossible to identify the card. This means that it may be inconvenient to use the card at some locations, such as in a darkened restaurant or night club, particularly for card users who may be color blind or have other vision deficiencies or impairments.
It is also the case that entities offering financial transaction cards, such as financial institutions, retailers, telephone service providers and other card purveyors, are interested in offering financial transaction cards that have a pleasing and distinctive visual appearance. The perceived advantage of such cards is the ability to offer a product that is unique in the marketplace, and which will impart status to the card customer relative to other card users who have more mundane cards. A card purveyor offering an attractive, visually distinct card can potentially attract customers who will preferentially select such a card over competitive cards that are less attractive, and thereby derive income as a result of increased card utilization.
Finally, financial transaction card fraud remains a continuing problem. If a card holder's account information is stolen, it may be possible to create a forged credit card that can be used for unauthorized purchases. If a financial transaction card is lost or stolen, the card holder's signature could be erased or a new signature panel could be applied to the card. The card could then be signed by an unauthorized user in their own handwriting, making it easier to verify the signature during unauthorized use.
It is to improvements in financial transaction cards, and particularly the display of human-readable symbolic information on such cards, that the present disclosure is directed.